Articles in the Uncategorized category - Page 113 of 153

The General Assembly is gearing up for the long session, and the AOC has a new lobbyist: former Rep. Tom Murry of Morrisville will be the AOC’s “chief legal counsel for governmental affairs,” according to this News and Observer story. Murry is a Republican and an attorney, and his main priority likely will be securing more resources for the courts.

This week saw several interesting developments at the United States Supreme Court, plus the videotaped arrest of a public defender in the hallway of a courthouse.

President Obama delivered the annual State of the Union address this week, and the Washington Post reports here that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg seized the moment to take her annual State of the Union nap. Hopefully this news roundup will keep everyone awake!

Last Friday, the Criminal Justice Section of the North Carolina Bar Association presented its annual awards for excellence in prosecution and criminal defense. The prosecutor award went to Assistant United States Attorney Sandra Hairston, who serves in the Middle District of North Carolina and who regularly outlawyered me when I was doing federal criminal defense work. The defense attorney award went to Mark Owens, Jr. of Greenville, who this NCBA press release describes as the “elder statesman” of the Pitt County bar. Congratulations to both winners.

An organization called Concerns of Police Survivors has designated today the first National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. The organization argues that “[i]n light of recent negativity directed toward law enforcement nationally, there is a need to show law enforcement officers that our citizens recognize the difficult and sometimes impossible career they have chosen, in public service to us all.” It suggests taking steps like thanking an officer, wearing blue, or posting a positive story about police on social media.

Officers have a tremendous amount of power, and as a result face constant scrutiny. In my view, such scrutiny is entirely appropriate. At the same time, it is a great idea to recognize and to be grateful for the many officers who are doing their very best to perform a tough job. Especially given the recent assassination of two officers in New York and the overall increase in officer deaths in 2014 (discussed here in the Washington Post), today seems like a good a day to do so.

Still looking to make a new year’s resolution or two, besides reading this blog daily? This post recaps several suggestions from the ABA and NC Lawyers Mutual.

This will be the last blog post of 2014. It is also a full and interesting post — if I do say so myself — as it has been quite a busy news week, from the Supreme Court on down.

The nation and the state continue to discuss events in Ferguson, Missouri and in Staten Island, New York. One direct impact of the controversy in North Carolina is that the Legislative Black Caucus plans to introduce legislation in the 2015 session that would require law enforcement officers to wear body cameras, according to this WRAL story. The details of the proposal are not yet clear.

Now that I have your attention . . . .

Ever wonder what happens to those case summaries that you receive from me by email? (If you’re not getting them you’re not on my listserv; sign up for free here). I sort them by subject and add them to my Criminal Case Compendium, an online, fully searchable resource. The Compendium, now a whopping 514 pages long, turned six years old this month. [Editor’s note: Actually, last month — I was a little slow in getting this post up!] In honor of the Compendium’s birthday, here’s quick primer on using this free legal research tool.

Several grand juries have recently considered whether to charge white police officers with killing black men. We’ve already discussed the case in Ferguson, Missouri on this blog. Wednesday, a Staten Island, New York grand jury declined to indict officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner. The New York Times has the story here. Then a South Carolina grand jury indicted officer Richard Combs for murder in the fatal shooting of Bernard Bailey, as Time reports here. Is it a small sample? A historic moment? A coincidence? An epidemic? Some or all of the above, depending on your point of view.